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William Alexander–What Was on His . . .

Our next guest is the brilliant author and master storyteller William Alexander!

You, of course, know Will as the winner of the National Book Award in 2012 for his debut novel, Goblin Secrets. He also won the Earphones Award for his audio rendition of the book, which is probably no surprise to those of you who know Will immersed himself in theatre and folklore at Oberlin College, before going on to study English at the University of Vermont, and creative writing at the Clarion Workshop.

Will followed up Goblin Secrets with the comic and creepy Ghoulish Song (also an audiobook). And later this year, he will release Ambassador—a sci-fi I’m just dying to read—and which already has a ★ review from Kirkus! Ambassador tells the story of Gabe Fuentes, an 11-year-old Minnesotan, who becomes Earth’s ambassador to the Galaxy, just as his undocumented parents are threatened with deportation from the US. Gabe is suddenly faced with solving two ‘alien’ problems, all while running for his life. In other words, hang on for a fast-flying adventure.

Will—like Gabe—lives in Minneapolis and is a second-generation Latino immigrant. Since he isn’t anticipating the call to ambassadorship any time soon, Will devotes his days to writing, teaching, and spending time with his family. As for the insider’s view, read on, because here’s Will with What Was on William Alexander’s . . .

Repertoire of Songs Sung Around the House: The only way I can convince my daughter to nap is by singing Iz Kamakawiwo’ole’s cover of “Over the Rainbow / Wonderful World.” Over and over again. Loudly. I don’t understand how she can possibly fall asleep while I’m belting out the song so close to her ear, but she does.

Living Room Sofa: The sofa is no longer a sofa. First it was a fort. Then the fort became a fortress. Now my two small kids dwell within, whisper secrets, and plot the destruction of their enemies.

Nightstand:

– Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke

– To Be or Not to Be by Ryan North (Choose your own Hamlet!)

– In the Language of Kings: An Anthology of Mesoamerican Literature

– Long Hidden: Speculative Fictions from the Margins of History

– Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

– The Lost Conspiracy by Frances Hardinge (Gullstruck Island in the UK)

I rarely read one book at a time. My scattered attention bounces between several.

To-Do List: I’ll be teaching a few courses and workshops this summer, so unwritten lectures and lesson plans take up lots of my to-do list—most of them about the overlap between theater and fiction writing, and how to steal from one kind of storytelling to serve another kind.

The rest of the list is Ambassador-related. Gotta plan the September book launch, and plan out the tour, and dive into revisions for the sequel…

Wall: Masks! Lots of masks. I have a collection of several from all over the world. My favorites are an unfinished Noh mask by Bidou Yamaguchi and a leather fox mask by Jeff Semmerling (see them, one on top of the other, at the right). Both have cameos in the most swashbuckling scene in Goblin Secrets.

Computer Screen Post-Its:

“The sound of language is where it all begins and what it all comes back to.” – Ursula K. Le Guin

“Things can be really different.” – Joanna Russ

“There’s this idea that monsters don’t have reflections in a mirror. But what I’ve always thought isn’t that monsters don’t have reflections, it’s that if you want to make a human being into a monster, deny them, at the cultural level, any reflection of themselves.” – Junot Díaz

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You can keep up to date with William Alexander, by visiting him online at willalex.netand globlinsecrets.com. Find him on Twitter at @williealex. And if you would like to pre-order Ambassador, simply click below:

And be sure to stop by again on July 20 for the breathtakingly creative, artist and illustrator LeUyen Pham!

what was on…

A blog about the writers and illustrators of children's and young adult literature. Here, we get to the heart of their work and lives by asking What Was on Their . . . minds, desks, play lists, refrigerators, and more.

Sandra Nickel

Sandra Nickel writes books and poetry for young readers. Sandra has two forthcoming picture books with Abrams Books for Young Readers and one with Lee & Low Books. Her poetry can be found in SCOOP magazine. Sandra holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has presented workshops on writing for children and young adults throughout Europe and the United States. Sandra is the winner of Hunger Mountain‘s Katherine Paterson Prize for picture books for two years running.

Sandra is represented by Victoria Wells Arms of the Wells Arms Literary Agency.

News . . .

I am thrilled to announce that I won the Katherine Paterson Prize for Picture Books for the second year in a row.

‘The Sun Has a Secret,’ my poem about the sun falling for the moon, is in SCOOP’s 1st anniversary issue. If you haven’t yet picked up an issue of SCOOP, do. It’s a brilliant children’s magazine that counts among its contributors Neil Gaiman, Sir Tom Stoppard, Herbie Brennan, and Jacqueline Wilson.

THE PARIS REVIEW . . .

The Paris Review celebrated James Fenimore Cooper’s birthday by picking up and republishing portions of my April 30, 2014 blog–The Voracious Child Readers of Russia. If you would like to read the Paris Review’s Natty Bumppo, Soviet Folk Hero (September 15, 2014), click below.

WRITING AND ACTING

Melanie Fishbane invited me to join her series on Embodying Character, where she interviews the actors of Anne & Gilbert, a musical adapted from L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island, all toward the end of investigating the overlaps between writing and acting.

Before taking up writing, I studied acting for three years in New York City. If you were a fan of New York’s acting scene, you might have caught me in some very dark, very serious off-off-Broadway showcases and as a nurse on The City or serving up coffee as ‘Sandy’ on As the World Turns. So, as you can imagine, I’m endlessly fascinated by the similarities between writing and acting and was thrilled to participate in Mel’s series.

You can discover the Embodying Character Series by clicking below:

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